[Silverxxx]

Hi, I just had a look at your files, following the size discussion, and i noticed that the home screen backgrounds are png files renamed to jpg. you will probably save 8 mb (guess) if you actually compress them to jpg.


Edit: I actually compressed them for you, the file is here http://www.box.net/shared/s66jj2707v . you save 14 mb, so it's not a little.

[bidossessi]

What needs to be done, at some point in time, is either github or svn: faster updates.
Probably should apply (if it hasn't been offered already bu Gamester77) for a spot on xbmc's skinning project.

[ronie]

Hi, I just had a look at your files, following the size discussion, and i noticed that the home screen backgrounds are png files renamed to jpg. you will probably save 8 mb (guess) if you actually compress them to jpg.

ehhh? not really, the backgrounds are true .jpg files.
the combined size of all the backgrounds is only 3MB, so i'm not sure how yours got so big.
did you somehow extract them from the .xpr file maybe ?

appreciate the effort though. ;-)

[ronie]

What needs to be done, at some point in time, is either github or svn: faster updates.
Probably should apply (if it hasn't been offered already bu Gamester77) for a spot on xbmc's skinning project.

Sir, you are correct on all points. ;-)
Indeed i've been offered a spot on the xbmc skinning project and my intention is the move it there.
BUT there are some issues with Transparency! i will have to address first.
I will have to make sure that all the artwork (backgrounds, weather fanart, genre icons) included in Transparency! are 'public domain/free to use' and don't violate any copyrights.

Since i didn't create the weather fanart pack & genre icons, it will take some time to figure this out. Today i've reviewed the weather fanart pack in Transparency! and removed all the questionable images.

So this leaves the default backgrounds and Genre Icons. I will have to recreate all the Genre Icons since i know most of them were taken from devianart.com, which is not ok.
You're not allowed to use any images from deviantart.com without permission from the author of the artwork.

Same applies to most of the backgrounds in Transparency!, i'll have to replace them too.

If anyone wants to offer some help, please go here:
Looking for New Background Images

thanx! :-)

[meanstreak]

I must be doing something wrong here. I've got Auriga on the HTPC, running XBMC build 21154 got the extract media metadata information, but on the XBOX running transparency V0.25 and xbmc build 21183 no option under settings / videos / general for extracting info.

Now when I rescan to library not a thing for codecs, I have cleared the library, rescanned all, played the film for a bit but still blank bar the DVD logo which I understand is grabbed differently.

Is this feature not on the xbox build - strange 'cos I thought they were all the same? For info I am getting my builds from ssh**. Is it because I am using incremental builds weighing in at around 35mb?

any help appreciated tnx

Brent

Transparency! v0.25

I know some of you have been waiting for long time for the new media flagging code to arrive in XBMC.
Well, it's available now, so Transparency! v0.25 has support for it.

You'll need at least SVN revision 21076 to make use of this new feature.
To enable the new media detection feature, go to Settings > Videos > General
and check 'Extract media metadata information'.

If you've been using Media Info Plus to put all the media data in the <studio> tag, no worries, Transparency! will also keep supporting that method.

So here's what's possible now:



No other changes have been added to v0.25 so if you're not interested in media flags, there's no need to update.

[aaronjb]

o.k., i've made a few changes to the way i detect dvd's, bluray and hddvd.
please wait for the next release and let me know if the problem is still there.

And there was me coming here to say I was seeing the same thing as BlackJack1, but I'll wait

In case my info makes you think of some new corner-case scenario though, here it is anyway:

Code:

/mnt/user/HD_Movies/Bolt (2008)
root@oracle:/mnt/user/HD_Movies/Bolt (2008)# ls
Bolt.(2008).1080p.Blu-ray.DTS-ES.x264-NORDIC.EDITION.mkv

That's the file I just added - /mnt/user/HD_Movies is my source, I have 'Use Folder Names in Lookups' enabled for the scraper.

All the media flags are correctly displayed - 1080, 16:9, H.264, DTS-5.1, CC, PG and Walt Disney (ok, I know the last one doesn't count ), but the DVD flag is displayed rather than the BluRay flag.

I haven't played this file yet, but I did just add it to the source and perform an update scan to scrape the details from IMDB.


BTW, to weigh in on the 'Downloading 100+Mb each update' - it would be nice if there were a non-media version of the skin to download for updates, I think - or better yet a github/svn repo so we can do an 'svn up' to get the changes.. well, for the geeky among us, anyway


Great work so far btw, the more I use the skin, the more I like it!

[edit] Just realised something - the movies for which I saw the BluRay flag image were all ones that I'd previously created Aeon-compatible .nfo files for with Media Info Plus.. I just removed one of them, cleaned the library, deleted the .nfo files added it back and re-scanned and it shows the DVD flag now..

Code:

root@oracle:/mnt/user/HD_Movies/Rise (2007)# ls
Rise.Blood.Hunter.2007.UNRATED.720p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON.mkv

[ronie]

I must be doing something wrong here. I've got Auriga on the HTPC, running XBMC build 21154 got the extract media metadata information, but on the XBOX running transparency V0.25 and xbmc build 21183 no option under settings / videos / general for extracting info.

Now when I rescan to library not a thing for codecs, I have cleared the library, rescanned all, played the film for a bit but still blank bar the DVD logo which I understand is grabbed differently.

Is this feature not on the xbox build - strange 'cos I thought they were all the same? For info I am getting my builds from ssh**. Is it because I am using incremental builds weighing in at around 35mb?

any help appreciated tnx

Brent

You're not doing anything wrong. I think the new media flagging code has not yet been merged with the xbox branch. So this feature is unavailable on the xbox.

[ronie]

BTW, to weigh in on the 'Downloading 100+Mb each update' - it would be nice if there were a non-media version of the skin to download for updates, I think - or better yet a github/svn repo so we can do an 'svn up' to get the changes.. well, for the geeky among us, anyway

Transparency! is still in it's early stages, so the contents of the media folder will probably change with every release for a while. I've just removed about 250 images from the weather fanart pack, converted all genre icons from .png to .jpg, added some flags, changed a few textures...

Anyway, the next version will be about 60MB smaller, so that's the best i can do for now.
Moving the skin to a svn repository is on the top of my list, but will take some time (as explained a few posts up in this thread).

Just realised something - the movies for which I saw the BluRay flag image were all ones that I'd previously created Aeon-compatible .nfo files for with Media Info Plus.. I just removed one of them, cleaned the library, deleted the .nfo files added it back and re-scanned and it shows the DVD flag now..

Code:

root@oracle:/mnt/user/HD_Movies/Rise (2007)# ls
Rise.Blood.Hunter.2007.UNRATED.720p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON.mkv

Thanx for the detailed info. I finally found what i was doing wrong. It's though the support all the different media flagging methods (MIP/build-in) and the more you try to support, the higher the risk you make mistakes. I don't want to force any of the Media Info Plus users (me included) to remove all the info from the <studio> tags and the new native way seems unsupported on the xbox for now. So the 'hybrid' way included in Transparency! will probably stay around for a while.

[Silverxxx]

I was referring to the background images inside the xpr, I am pretty sure they are png renamed to jpg.

[maocul]

If I mention trailers will I get a forum slap??

I really like the mod by anoobie for the reduced screen trailer previews.

Is it possible to develop that into this skin?

If it is (and I really really hope it is!) I would suggest 1 major difference. Size... I have a not too teeny 46" screen and the preview on the AEON mod is just too small. I would have thought that 40-50% of the screen would be a minimum.

I'll hold off on any other ideas until we find out if this is possible and if its viable. If it is but will take a while I'll join the discussion later on.

[ronie]

I was referring to the background images inside the xpr, I am pretty sure they are png renamed to jpg.

Thanx for clearing that up. I believe all textures are converted to some other file-format (could be .png) when you create Textures.xpr. So what you're seeing is normal.

If you're interested in the contents of my Textures.xpr, you could also download the uncompressed textures here.

[ronie]

If I mention trailers will I get a forum slap??

ignored maybe ;-p

I really like the mod by anoobie for the reduced screen trailer previews.

Is it possible to develop that into this skin?

If it is (and I really really hope it is!) I would suggest 1 major difference. Size... I have a not too teeny 46" screen and the preview on the AEON mod is just too small. I would have thought that 40-50% of the screen would be a minimum.

I'll hold off on any other ideas until we find out if this is possible and if its viable. If it is but will take a while I'll join the discussion later on.

feel free to nag about it as much as you like, the more this topic gets raised, the more likely it'll become i'll implement it at some point.
the big quesion is, how should we start the trailer. should it involve some user interaction or automatically start after a few seconds.

[daje]

Have to say I like this skin more and more, and it has become my regular skin.

One thing I didn't like was the guessing of source, but I've now modified the include file to pick this up from file name rather than guessing (My movie library consists of more than dvd, hddvd and bd sources, so I removed the guessing) and it looks good. The presentation of media flags looks better than in Aeon I think.

There's one media flag I miss, and haven't found in any skin: 2 Channel PCM.
Some of my dvds only have 2 channel pcm audio, and if someone could point me in the right direction for a pcm logo that matches the logos included in this skin I'd be very happy
The detection of pcm streams work well, so I'd only need to put it in the include file, if I just had the graphic

[maocul]

the big quesion is, how should we start the trailer. should it involve some user interaction or automatically start after a few seconds.

Personally I'd say that the user needs to invoke the trailer. if you pause your searching in order to answer the phone/doorbell/wife's whim you probably don't want something to just kick in.

For me placement is the concern. Aeon had a perfectly good place for the trailer to sit and not get in the way, whereas Transparency! does not (at least not to my unimaginative eyes!). Is it possible for the trailer to "animate" into view when called or does there have to be a specific location for it to sit?

I've always been looking for a good trailer thingy even back in my Meedio days, I've just always found that it a) didn't work that well or b) was too small.... not that I'm hung up on size

[ronie]

One thing I didn't like was the guessing of source, but I've now modified the include file to pick this up from file name rather than guessing (My movie library consists of more than dvd, hddvd and bd sources, so I removed the guessing) and it looks good.

i radically changed the guessing algorithm in the next release, having a source tag in the filename should override all other guessing. i haven't tested it myself, but i'm sure i'll get some complaints when it doesn't work.

There's one media flag I miss, and haven't found in any skin: 2 Channel PCM.
Some of my dvds only have 2 channel pcm audio, and if someone could point me in the right direction for a pcm logo that matches the logos included in this skin I'd be very happy
The detection of pcm streams work well, so I'd only need to put it in the include file, if I just had the graphic

i think pcm streams could best be represented by a .wav logo?
you can find one in the skin: Transparency!/media/flags/music/audiocodec/wav.png

do you, by any change, know what value ListItem.AudioCodec returns for those pcm streams?
the next version will support pcm_s16le & pcm_u8, but if there's some others i'd like to know.